Recommendation: 750words.com :

So, yer all familiar with NaNoWriMo, I preusme. Writing 50,000 words in a month, that's rough. Mostly, in my experience, because it's a limited timeframe. A deadline. Recently, I discovered this site, www.750words.com. It's pretty simple, really: the goal is to write 750 words a day. The site explains some more - the tally marks, the "rewards system" (kinda like achievements), et cetera.

I've found that this site generally works better for me - if you write 750 words every day, that adds up pretty quickly. And of course, you won't be able to write every day - too busy, too tired, no inspiration, or just plum not in the mood. But 750 words is actually pretty easy to meet, and there's nothing keeping you from writing more than 750.

There's also some other crap on there - your "metadata" and something that apparently analyzes your subconcious based on your choice of words, but I think that's a load'a shit.

I had been using it since June for Manifestation Files. It was my saving grace. Even though I don't really need it anymore, I still use it to maintain my streak and build up more motivation for keeping it going.

Hey, that sounds like a cool idea! I'm gonna have to add this site to my favorites and play around with it. (What do you do if you use a medium other than word processing to work on your writing though? I write the old-fashioned way (pen and paper) so I don't get distracted by the internet.)

I suppose I could just type the words I've written, remembering the place I've started at.

It sounds like a lot better premise than Write or Die, for sure.

"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all."

I've never understood the idea behind the "write X words" concept. Feels very high school essay-ish. When I'm setting myself goals for writing, they're always more related to the actual work: "write a chapter in three days" and so forth.

I can understand why this might not work for things like NaNoWriMo, but I can't begin to guess why people would set a word count goal for themselves.

Hey, that sounds like a cool idea! I'm gonna have to add this site to my favorites and play around with it. (What do you do if you use a medium other than word processing to work on your writing though? I write the old-fashioned way (pen and paper) so I don't get distracted by the internet.)
I suppose I could just type the words I've written, remembering the place I've started at.
It sounds like a lot better premise than Write or Die, for sure.

If you're typing it out, you might as well type it into Word directly - it's got a word count too. But with 750words.com, you get PICTURES OF ANIMALS AND SHIT.

I've never understood the idea behind the "write X words" concept. Feels very high school essay-ish. When I'm setting myself goals for writing, they're always more related to the actual work: "write a chapter in three days" and so forth.
I can understand why this might not work for things like NaNoWriMo, but I can't begin to guess why people would set a word count goal for themselves.

If you set the goal of writing 750 words, at least it's getting written as a first draft. You can always revise later. But whatever works for you, man.

It's just a more number-orientated way of setting goals. Setting goals by chapters is more abstract—you might not know how long the chapter will be. Productivity varies. Three chapters may be 5000 words, or it may just be 1500. But 750 words is a concrete goal. The goal line is easier to see.

So, it's based on what type of writer you are. Different goals work for different writers. But for me, doing it by words (more like how many "three-page" chunks I can get done) works.

750 Words was backed by the idea that a writer had (the name escapes me, someone help me here) called Morning Pages. The idea was just to write straight, for either a set amount of time, for a set amount of pages, or a set number of words. 750 words is simply a decent number to hit, should you be writing a bit each day (though most writers will most likely hit more, should they be serious about it).

The general idea can be thought of as practice of a craft and technique, very much in the same way someone playing an instrument, say a piano, would practice scales. Yes, it's basic and habitual (which some writers will swear against), but it can help writers loosen their creative muscles a bit, and help writers say creative and "fit", so to speak, with their technique. As an added bonus, usually writers can pull from whatever they're written in those 750 words, and use them elsewhere, should they see fit.

I think it's a great idea; practice is always a good idea. That, and it shuts up the editor in my head, so that's always a good thing.

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